Winning the War in Afghanistan - No Video, No Music, No Battle Report Here

From Marinemom: This post is not exciting to watch, or exciting to read about. It is not about how our troops have once again killed another umpteen militants on the battlefields of Afghanistan. But it is about sucking the life out of our enemies, winning the hearts and minds of the Afghans, one village at a time, and ultimately winning this war.

U.S. Team Helps to Plant Seeds for Afghan Farmers’ Success

By Army Capt. Michael Greenberger
Special to American Forces Press Service

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, March 12, 2009 – As the noon sun crept toward the mountains west of Janquadam, children ran from all corners of the village, greeting the group of soldiers from the 28th Forward Agribusiness Development Team.

The photo: Army Sgt. Allen Abbott, left, and Army Staff Sgt. Joseph McMurtrey, with the 28th Forward Agribusiness Development Team, use a compass and measuring tape to accurately measure and mark a local farmer’s field for the future planting of a vineyard west of Janquadam, Afghanistan, Feb. 28, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Michael Greenberger

On this warm, late-February day, the team was on a mission to help a blind farmer develop his fields so he eventually can build a new grape vineyard.

The ADT, a National Guard unit deployed from Nebraska, has come to Afghanistan to assist and educate farmers on better farming techniques, and to introduce them to grasses and alfalfa for better animal health.

No strangers to this village, soldiers of the 28th have visited several times before.

“On a previous mission, we assessed the farmer’s fields,” Army Sgt. 1st Class Eldon R. Kuntzelman said. “Then we got a letter of agreement from the land owner, and later presented our plan to him.”

“Marking and measuring the field was our primary mission,” Army 1st Lt. Eric Sattelberg, agricultural team chief, said. “Our goal on every mission is to improve relations with the [local residents]. In the long run, this type of mission will strengthen the bond between Afghanistan and the U.S., because they know that we are here to help grow this nation rather than destroy it.”

The 28th has more plans for Janquadam, including installing grain storage bins, planting fruit and nut trees, working with animal health, water management, training and education in tractor maintenance, and setting up greenhouses and underground vegetable storage.

The future of ADT operations is simple -- grow this nation into a thriving country of different fruits and vegetables, Sattelberg said.

“The goal is a continuation of the projects from one ADT rotation to the next,” he said. “Several teams are either on the ground or being identified for a potential rotation. We are here doing one field at a time through demonstration farms as well as with other projects.”

The demonstration crops offer the farmers an opportunity to learn a variety of methods for growing crops, and then allow the local farmers to try different techniques for growing crops in their own fields.

About half of the unit has been deployed before, and all of the 52-member team volunteered for the deployment. The 28th works in four provinces -- Bamyan, Panjshir, Parwan and Kapisa. Four other ADTs operate across Afghanistan, with more on the way.

The farmers are becoming very familiar with the ADT soldiers and their mission, as the team has conducted numerous missions to the same locations, Sattelberg said. “We are respectful, … and I think as long as we continue to respect them, they will continue to welcome us in their village.”

Liveleak opposes racial slurs - if you do spot comments that fall into this category, please report them for us to review.

Give a Man a Fish, Feed Him For a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, Feed Him For a Lifetime...

An age old concept for an an old people, I hope to be buying bottles of this man's family's wine in 30 years assuming Islam finally begins it's Reformation and joins the civilized world in peace. One could only imagine the amount of world peace we would have right now if Radical strains of Islam didn't plague the rest of us with their brutality, war, threats, poverty, uneducated minds and archaic rituals impoMore..sed on innocent women and children, That deny the rest of us the future doctors, scientist, lawyers, researchers, philosophers, inventors, humanitarians we all need from other parts of the world so crucial to our future survival, the Western mind can not continue to shoulder the burden of everyone existence as we are finding out.Less..

Posted Mar-14-2009 By

jjjjjay

Posted Mar-14-2009 By

KingLawahaha

We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken -- you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

Posted Mar-14-2009 By

noisyassassin

Posted Mar-14-2009 By

Metapotent

Meanwhile back at the ranch....
- US taxpayer's are living in the streets eating potatoe soup
- The US government is counterfeiting insane amounts of money which is going to cause a currency collaspe
- oBUMa is talking about supervising the food supply to keep it safe (need a more immediate way to cull the herd
- popular gun and ammo sales are going off the charts
- 32 states are declaring sovereignty (10th amendment)

....and the patriots are playing silly bugger in a desert 6,000 miles away shMore..ooting at invisible enemies

Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos.
Will DurantLess..

Posted Mar-14-2009 By

sinner713

Meanwhile back at the ranch....
- US taxpayer's are living in the streets eating potatoe soup
- The US government is counterfeiting insane amounts of money which is going to cause a currency collaspe
- oBUMa is talking about supervising the food supply to keep it safe (need a more immediate way to cull the herd
- popular gun and ammo sales are going off the charts
- 32 states are declaring sovereignty (10th amendment)

Broke, Uneducated eating potato soup Im still 1000X times better offMore.. then 99% of the worldLess..

Posted Mar-14-2009 By

SimpleSiren

What your witnessing is the implosion of civilization in the states. Millions of people armed with automatic weapons and are hungry tend to get a little bummed out about, bailouts, corruption and tend to go with a mob rule mentality. You might be OK now, a few years from now I'm not so sure.

Posted Mar-15-2009 By

Jack Mehoff

In those crisis you had sound money the government doesn't have that foundation for civilization anymore.

There's a reason why in the US constitution it states - gold and silver only. That way no one can destroy the US economy with printing too much paper.

The US dollar is toast who in their right mind would want to save in a currency that has a future value of zero. (All paper money is toast the fckers in the G20 are trying to keep it going but nothings working.

Posted Mar-14-2009 By

Sunderer

I have also had problems. If I click on "Messages" I can see the list of messages. Then when I click on one in the list, that smaller box opens up with the link to your comment replies. When I click on that it doesn't take me to the comment replies. Until they fix the problem I found that you can click "Comment Replies" on the top right, and that will go straight to them.